The Emirates NBD Egypt PMI by Markit is due out tomorrow morning by 6:15am or so. The Saudi and UAE PMIs are due out at the same time.

Strong reserves report expected: The central bank is expected to tell us by Thursday how much reserves were in its coffers at the end of 2016, and we speculate it will be a pleasant surprise. Governor Tarek Amer’s CBE is on track to become the rare kind of Egyptian institution that manages to set itself an ambitious, measurable target and succeeds not only in achieving it, but quite possibly overshoot it. Amer had stated repeatedly that he aims to bring the CBE’s reserves to USD 25 bn by the end of December 2016. As of November, the CBE’s net international reserves stood at USD 23.1 bn and, having stopped defending the EGP following the flotation in November. Egypt has since signed a USD 2.7 bn swap agreement with China as well as agreements worth more than EUR 500 mn with the European Union and French Development Agency.

Not going to be included in the reserves report: USD 1 bn in funding approved and disbursed by the World Bank and USD 500 mn from the African Development Bank. An exclusive report by Youm7 in late December quoted Amer as noting that the AfDB and WB funding will be used to finance imports of fuel and LNG and to finance operations and maintenance costs at state-owned power plants.

Important to remember: The CBE will have to make a payment to its Paris Club creditors in January.